Frame and panel interface systems are commonly used to construct displays in homes, museums, retail stores, airport terminals, trade show exhibits and the like. In the trade show and retail environment, it is particularly important that the entire display be visually appealing and not present features which would distract the attention of prospective customers away from the information and designs displayed on the panels. Because frame and panel systems are frequently used in conjunction with portable display assemblies at trade shows, where time and space can be very limited, a preferable panel-frame interface system is one in which the same frame members can be used to support more than one type of panel without resulting in the exposure of unsightly structural features.
Solutions exist for panel-frame interface systems, particularly those using frame members formed by extruding cross-sectional profiles and which include lateral portions adapted to supporting a panel member. Such systems typically comprise frame members that are designed to support either rigid planar panel members in an attractive manner or flexible panel members with mounting gaskets at their periphery in an attractive manner, but generally not both. Conventional frame members that are designed to support flexible panel members with mounting gaskets generally have a mounting groove which projects laterally outward of the respective lateral face of the frame member. Insertion of the mounting gaskets into the mounting groove of a frame member provides the principle means of support for the flexible panel member. The opposing walls of the conventional mounting groove commonly terminate at approximately the same distance outward of the respective lateral face of the frame member. This structural attribute typical in the prior art presents a significant disadvantage if a frame member with the described conventional mounting groove is to be used to support a rigid panel member without mounting gaskets, because the groove opening will remain visibly exposed, a characteristic which those in the art recognize as unsightly and therefore highly undesirable in display system applications.
Those in the art have long recognized the need for an improved panel-frame interface system in which the same frame members can attractively support both flexible panel members with mounting gaskets at their periphery designed to be receivingly engaged by a mounting groove in the frame member and rigid panel members designed to clingingly engage the lateral wall of the frame member while visually obscuring the unused mounting groove.